World Bank Allocates $800m For North East Rehabilitation

To address poverty issues in the North-East devastated by the Boko Haram menace, the World Bank has allocated 800 million dollars to the region. The UNDP has also revealed that it is interested in making contingency plans against the coming rainy season and issues around resettlement of people internally displaced in their original homes.

The UNDP Country Representative, Fatma Samoura, stated this in a meeting with government officials at the Borno State Government House. Samoura, who is also a UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, said the UN was scaling up its presence in Borno and other North Eastern states ravaged by the insurgency.

The UN representative mentioned that after a long discussion with the World Bank team, they have promised to leverage 800 million dollars for the North East to respond to recovery, rehabilitation, de-mining, waste management and debris processing for the region.

According to her, the UNDP is finding it difficult to mobilize resources for Nigeria, in view of the crisis situation in other parts of the world which she said is costing traditional donors a lot. Samoura, however, stated that since the rainy season is very close and comes with epidemic outbreaks, the UN would be ready to support all the government and local agencies� efforts to prepare contingency planning to avoid the situation of last year where several cases of water diarrhea was reported.

She appealed for support from government at all levels, explaining that the humanitarian response plan at the moment is 10% funding as the country office has so far received only 24 million dollars out of the $248 million budgeted for North-eastern Nigeria for the year 2016. However, the Country Representative, pledged that the UN would continue to compliment the World Bank and the EU supports to address the root causes of poverty and exclusion in the North East.

Also, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on IDP�s, Mariam Masha, has revealed that the Federal Government in conjunction with the World Bank, European Union and other international agencies are also putting together a collective vision and strategy on peace building and recovery in the North East.